Content Writing Tips for Beginners.

Content is blazing hot! Not only does it reflect your brand’s personality, but also improves your site’s search ranking. With 93% of business purchase decisions starting with an Internet search, no wonder Content Writing is king and the new “black” of Marketing.

What is content? Content is information communicated online in diverse forms, such as blog posts, articles, white papers and e-books. The main difference between Copywriting and Content Writing lies in their purpose. While copy is meant to sell your products and services, the prime objective of content is to build a lasting relationship between you and your audience.

Good news is that access to digital technologies has given everybody a voice. Why don’t you make your brand voice heard with content that puts you in your audience’s good books? Do you want your audience to like you, trust and think of you? Write good content!

Top Tips On Smart Content Writing.

Before you start.

1. Peruse your competition’s online presence. What are they doing well? How are they succeeding in attracting their audience? Will you follow in their footsteps, or go your own way with the content strategy?
   
   
2. Know your audience. You are writing for your audience NOT yourself, so you’d better speak THEIR language! Informal, conversational language works best every time, whatever the form of your content.
   
   
3. Choose the type of content that suits your needs best. Written content formats include: blog posts, long form content like guides, case studies, white papers and e-books.
   
   
4. Pick your topic wisely. Opt for topics that are relevant, interesting or even entertaining. Talk about what you know and are passionate about. Are you going to produce an insightful list, an opinion piece about the industry, or a how-to tutorial?
   
   
5. Do your research! Make sure your sources are on-topic and credible. You don’t want your content to look unprofessional and rushed, as if it was knocked together overnight.
   
   
6. Plan your writing. Draw up a good plan. It will save you time and a lot of hassle when you write a piece of content that is longer than a few paragraphs.
   
   

While at it.

1. Boost comprehension. Ensure that your content can be easily skimmed over for gist and that it is equally easy to scan it for keywords.
   
   
2. Brevity and clarity. Keep your paragraphs and sentences short and your language simple. You want your content to have a lucid and digestible format.
   
   
3. Content optimisation. In plain English that means that in order to reach the largest possible target audience, you need to include keywords, meta and title tags, as well as relevant links. In this way, not only do you make your content more appealing to search engines, but also attractive, useful and actionable to users.
   
   

Almost ready to go live!

1. Edit and proofread your work. Take a break from your piece of writing so you can look at it with fresh eyes. Otherwise, you might want to consider hiring a freelance professional to revise the copy for you.
   
   

Misc.

1. Take a content writing course! Trust a talented English expert with excellent English writing skills to show you how to create compelling content for your business.
   
   
2. Fear not! I know writing can be scary! But, remember, the more you practise, read and research the more you familiarise yourself with writing content. And the more familiar you get with the hacks and tricks of each type of content, the easier and the more enjoyable the whole process will become on the way to finding your brand voice.
   
   
3. Evoke emotions. At the end of the day it’s all about establishing an emotional connection with your readers. Show them your human side and build rapport with your audience through content.
   
   

Content attack!

If you haven’t got around Content Writing yet, the time is now! The only way to overcome your fear of the blank page is to face it head-on. Make sure you write something worth reading or do something worth writing about! Always plan your writing, keep a diary with your ideas, play around with words and turn writing content into a habit. So, go ahead write your first piece of content, drop me a line should you need any help and don’t miss my next How-to guide to Writing a Blog Post!

Turn Small Talk into something much bigger! Learn the DOs and the DON’Ts!

https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2019/12/brand-storytelling-examples/#:~:text=Brand%20storytelling%20is%20using%20a,you%20share%20with%20your%20customers.&text=%E2%80%9CBy%20narrative%2C%20we%20mean%20storytelling,%2C%20climax%2C%20and%20d%C3%A9nouement.%E2%80%9D

https://www.forbes.com/sites/billeehoward/2017/05/23/branded-content/

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/emotion-marketing#:~:text=Emotional%20marketing%20refers%20to%20marketing,to%20elicit%20a%20consumer%20response.

https://www.trewmarketing.com/smartmarketingblog/content-marketing-2/the-importance-of-content-in-the-digital-world